Often, it is desirable to divide rooms into sections or sub-sections of an original configuration. For example, homeowners and apartment renters may wish to divide rooms in order to provide privacy, or make more efficient and creative use of the existing space. However, currently available devices and/or methods include various disadvantages and drawbacks, leaving a variety of commercial needs which have not yet been met.
One currently available device includes a room divider, such as a hinged room divider screen. Although room divider screens may be easy to assemble and disassemble, and may include decreased cost, they also are often flimsy and easily knocked over while offering minimal privacy. Another method includes using existing furniture, such as a bookcase or other tall pieces of furniture (e.g., free-standing wardrobes), to partially separate rooms. However, furniture can be heavy and difficult to move, expensive, include unfinished portions, and/or create substantial and potentially dangerous tip-over hazards.
Traditionally built stationary walls, erected with studs, bottom plates, top plates, and clad with sheets of drywall, may be sturdier and provide increased privacy as compared to room dividers or pieces of furniture. However, stationary walls include significant drawbacks such as possibly requiring a building permit to erect, requiring expertise to construct, being difficult to remove, and leaving marks or holes in the floor, ceiling, and adjoining walls. Additionally, stationary walls are often erected and dismantled in a manner that makes it difficult to reclaim the materials in a useable form.
As an alternative to traditionally built stationary walls, pressurized walls may be constructed by expanding leveling screws within vertical studs to create a snug, pressurized fit of the stud against the floor and ceiling. Sheets of drywall are then attached to the studs, and the wall is finished with drywall tape, drywall compound, and paint. Although pressurized walls provide a temporary solution without forming holes in the floor or ceiling, they also include various drawbacks. Such drawbacks include potentially violating municipal building codes, being expensive to construct, and possibly requiring a contractor to dismantle the wall when no longer wanted, which may result in the contractor claiming the dismantled building materials. When the contractor claims the dismantled building materials, the consumer not only pays for the contractor's time, but also realizes no equity in the original purchase of the pressurized wall.
A portable, temporary wall system that shows one or more improvements in comparison to current solutions would be desirable in the art.